The Future of EU cohesion: Scenarios and their impacts on regional inequalities

Cohesion policy plays a crucial role in promoting economic, social and territorial cohesion among the EU Member States' regions. Despite efforts to reduce regional inequalities, challenges persist. This study identifies three main challenges in addressing regional inequalities. First, there is a lack of coordination and coherence between cohesion policy and other policies. Second, positive impacts of cohesion policy are not distributed evenly across regions. Third, the growing number of instruments leads to increased administrative complexity. A coordinated policy approach could be more effective in tackling regional inequalities. This is explored through four policy scenarios and an assessment of their impacts. Finally, the study investigates the cost of non-Europe, that is, the impact of taking no further action at EU level to reduce regional inequalities.